Mike Stoops offers up a couple of digs at Manziel

COLLEGE STATION – Oklahoma’s Mike Stoops owns a reputation as a sharp defensive coordinator, but apparently that sharpness doesn’t translate to radio interviews.

According to the Twitter feed of Tulsa World writer John Hoover, Stoops told WWLS on Friday concerning Texas A&M’s Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, “If they can keep him out of jail or keep him eligible, he’s gonna be pretty good.”

Stoops also told the radio station, according to Hoover, “If they can keep him off the Twitter, he might have 3-4 Heismans. He’ll have that type of ability.”

Stoops also was quite complimentary of Manziel, if the above aren’t complimentary enough, in light of A&M’s 41-13 hammering of Oklahoma a week ago in the Cotton Bowl. Manziel rushed for an FBS record by a quarterback in a bowl game (229 yards) in leading the Aggies to a Cotton record 633 yards.

“Never seen anything like that,” Stoops said. “Never felt as defenseless as we were the other night, that’s for sure.”

Stoops later told the Tulsa World through an OU spokesman he regretted the comments and he has the “utmost respect for Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel.”

Manziel, prior to winning the starting gig over Jameill Showers in August, was arrested in June in Aggieland’s Northgate bar district for fighting, failing to identify himself and producing two fake licenses. He also occasionally posts pictures on Twitter partying it up, and last weekend posted a photo of himself fanning cash in an Oklahoma casino following the Cotton Bowl blowout.

Manziel is 20, and was allowed to be in the 18-and-up casino just across the Texas-Oklahoma border.